Harry Potter and the Mysterious Illness
by math24rules
Summary: This is the eighth book of Harry Potter, which occurs after the Deathly Hollows. Harry has graduated from Hogwarts, but he has chosen to be an Auror for his career choice. Aurors have to attend a special three-year-long school after their original training in schools (like Hogwarts) and this story follows Harry through his first year in this new school.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter books and I did not write any of them, all credit belongs to J.K. Rowling, the author of the original series. I have only taken her characters a written a story of my own.**

* * *

**Chapter 1  
The Dursley's Return**

Number Four Privet Drive had never looked so neglected; rose bushes, ivy, and flower beds grew wildly and unkempt around the house with no one to look after them. Weeds struggled to strangle any flowers they could find in their vicinity. It looked quite as if no one had lived in it for months, which in fact, was quite true. The neighbors, however, did not know that and were quite confused as to how in the world the gossip-loving, spot-hating, tidy-wanting Mrs. Dursley, who had lived in that house, could ever have allowed her home to become such a mess. They could only assume that perhaps something had happened to prevent her love of cleaning and tidiness, or maybe, they hoped, the Dursleys were on vacation.

At any rate, this excitement had been quite some months ago, when the house first began to look untidy. Now, as almost a year had gone by, all excitement had vanished. In fact, the neighbors no longer even bothered with a glance in the direction of Number Four Privet Drive anymore for it no longer held any interest to them at all, not even to the gossipers or the young children who thought it fun to poke at the weeds.

Four cloaked figures suddenly appeared on the driveway in front of the house with a loud _crack! _immediately after sundown on the last day of August. The four figures looked left and right, as if to see if anyone had noticed their loud and sudden entrance. When no one came hurrying out of their home, two of them split off and hurried ahead of the rest. Soon, the pair reached the front doorstep and with another glance at the neighboring houses, took a deluminator out of one of their pockets. Within a few moments and a couple of clicks, all the streetlamps down the block had gone out.

Satisfied, the deluminator was stowed back into the pocket of the taller one, who wore an regular clothing. The two entered the house just as the other two came hurrying up the doorsteps. The smaller one took out what looked at first glance like a long stick, but upon a farther examination was a long and slender wand. A few words were muttered and two long, silvery ribbons shot out of the tip. The two ribbons twirled and danced before shooting around the house, leaving a trail of glitter wherever they went.

A loud gasp behind the two wizards caused them to turn around in surprise; the source of this loud noise was soon pinpointed as the pair of wizards noticed that it was the long-gone inhabitants of Number Four Privet Drive standing right behind them.

Vernon Dursley's face was a deep purplish color and his mustache bristled as his eyes followed the path of the two silvery ribbons dancing around the house. His son Dudley, who was much thinner than he had been when he left (this was due to the fact that his favorite foods were not known to the wizards he had lived with in the past year and instead, odder and other types of food had been offered to him, most of which his father insisted must be poisonous and told his son not to accept) gave off a terrified squeal at the sight of the ribbons beginning to rush towards him.

"Do not worry, they won't hurt you," smirked the shortest wizard standing outside of the house as he redirected the ribbons back to the rose bushes.

Vernon Dursley continued to eye the silvery ribbons suspiciously after that, mustache quivering all the while. His wife Petunia cowered behind him with her eyes squeezed shut as if it was a terribly offensive insult to have the silvery ribbons dancing around her house.

Still looking quite suspicious and purple, Vernon Dursley glared at the two wizards and snarled, "What are these ruddy- _thingies- _chasing around my house for!?"

"Do not worry sir, they are tidying up because of your long absence," squeaked the other wizard.

With a grimace, Vernon Dursley turned around until the silvery ribbons had shot back into the shortest wizard's wand. Then he turned around again when the lights suddenly flooded the streets again.

"Sir, good day! We must get going as there are many things to be attending to, but we will leave you here to enjoy the comfort of being home again! After all, home is always home sweet home. Go inside, we will not delay you any longer," trilled the the other wizard before the both of them turned on the spot and disappeared once more with the same loud _crack! _it had taken for them to arrive.

"Well, got all of the ruddy... The ruddy... _People _here on our driveway off of it, might as well go into the house," grumbled Vernon Dursley, unable to speak any word that was considered to be abnormal.

Now that the two wizards were gone, despite the fact they were nowhere close to intimidating, Petunia Dursley slipped out from behind of her husband and spoke with her usual tone, "Yes, I'll bet there are one hundred stains sitting there on the kitchen counter, waiting for me to see them and clean!"

Dudley Dursley nodded to say he agreed and his mother gave him one large hug, as if he did not get enough attention and people doting on him already. Although he had grown up a very pampered child, his year with the wizards seemed to have made him more mature and less spoiled, though that did nothing to stop his mother from coming close to reverting him back to his old spoiled ways.

The Dursleys strode into their home with their heads held high, feeling very comfortable as they entered their old home. They were even more cheerful by the fact that they thought any magical or wizard related events were over for them, at least for the day if not forever.

How wrong they turned out to be, as the most magical part of their day awaited them in the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2  
The Kitchen Surprise**

"You! Boy! What are you doing back here!? I thought that crack-pot old fool said you wouldn't be coming back after you turned seventeen, eh!? Aren't you seventeen yet, boy, or have I counted the years wrong since you arrived here!?" Vernon Dursley, known to the 'boy' he was referring to as Uncle Vernon.

Uncle Vernon was busy having his mustache bristling again and having his face take on a deep, reddish hue similar to that of a radish's. He was also busy yelling at the boy standing in his kitchen named Harry Potter, known as the 'Chosen One' or the 'Boy Who Lived' to most of the wizards in the world.

"Hey! You should be grateful, Harry came back just to see you!" snapped the redheaded Ginny Weasley who was standing next to him.

"Calm down Ginny, just act like you usually do," Harry muttered into her ear. "And I think it might be better if you follow the plan."

Stiffly, Ginny nodded and grouchily said, "I'll leave you four to get caught up with the recent events in your life, I'll be waiting upstairs in Harry's old bedroom."

When she was gone, Uncle Vernon decided that although he wanted to yell at Harry, he would keep his voice down for the sake of the girl upstairs.

"You better not have lied to us, you ungrateful boy. We've housed you, sheltered you, fed you for the past- well, you should just be thankful we didn't throw you to the dogs! Don't you dare have lived in this house comfortably while we were gone, don't you dare to lie to us now! I want the whole truth, NOW!" snarled Uncle Vernon, putting an extra loud emphasis on the last word.

"Fine, fine. My friends and I at Hog-" Harry began, but was cut off as Aunt Petunia gave an outraged howl at the mention of something that was nowhere close to normal in her perspective.

"I mean, my friends and I at my school," Harry hurriedly corrected himself while at the same time making an effort not to kick something in anger and irritation, "We've defeated Voldemort. He's gone for good now, so everyone is celebrating. For _sure_ he is gone, no need to worry. No, I was not in your house while he was around, I was away in other places. I figured I'd drop by and visit with you guys for a couple of hours, although it appears I'm not welcome."_  
_

"You're welcome," said the Dudley who had been very uncharacteristically quiet until then. "You saved me from those d-d-de-demontors when I was sixteen, you can stay for a couple of hours."

Aunt Petunia took one look at her son and burst into tears, much like she had done the day that Harry and the Dursley family had parted when he was eighteen. She ran over and gave her son one large hug.

Uncle Vernon's mustache began to bristle once more, obviously due to the war he was having in his head; allowing his son Dudley to be pleased and having Harry stay, or to get rid of Harry and be happy? In the end, his desire to spoil his son won out.

"Fine, you can stay, but a few hours and no more! And I'll expect you to find some way to feed yourself and your girlfriend without our money, you aren't going to go around spending our money after all these years of living with us. Your girlfriend also needs to stay in your room, now don't do anything suspicious while we're gone," Uncle Vernon spat, already turning to grab his car keys.

"Gone? Where are you going, you've only just gotten home," asked Harry, confused.

"Well, we can't ruddy well live off of nothing, now can we son, eh? You may be able to- to- to- make your food appear with a wave of- of- of- your thing, but you should know that we can't!" Uncle Vernon sneered.

"Okay," Harry said, reluctant at having to face the neighbors craning their necks to look at Number Four Privet Drive all by himself, as they were already beginning to do so. "I'll stay in my room with Ginny, we'll wait there."

"Good!" growled Uncle Vernon before the three Dursleys filed out the door and slammed it shut.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
****Back To The Burrow**

"How'd it go Harry?" Ginny asked as Harry entered the room.

"Pretty good, they went out to buy food, saying that unlike us, they can't magic food out of thin air, except they couldn't say the word 'magic,'" Harry replied.

"Are you sure all of them said that?" asked Ginny.

"Well, it's really just Uncle Vernon really, Aunt Petunia didn't really say anything, and all Dudley talked about was how I was allowed to stay," admitted Harry.

"I thought as much, and besides, Dudley should stick up for you. I mean, you risked getting your wand snapped and almost got expelled just for saving him. And haven't you ever told them that food summoning and transfiguration isn't possible? Food can only be summoned away from something, you can't just make it appear out of thin air," said Ginny.

"Well, at any rate, you're supposed to stay in my bedroom. And guess what, Ginny?" asked Harry excitedly.

"What?"

"Your status got upgraded from 'nonexistent' to my 'girlfriend,' or at least that's what Uncle Vernon called you, unless he's talking about some other 'girlfriend,' which I'm pretty sure I don't have," said Harry with a smirk.

The two of them burst out laughing.

"Tomorrow is time for me to go off on the Hogwarts Express," said Ginny lazily a while later as the pair flipped through one of her new books.

"Yep, I know. We still have to go to the burrow after this, Mrs. Weasley wants us there, remember? Then we can pack up and everything together and by tomorrow, you can go, I'll come too, if you want," offered Harry.

"Yeah, mum does want us to go the the burrow after this, that's right, I almost forget. And yes, I want you to come, of course I do, why wouldn't I? I just can't believe how stupid I am, I completely forgot that I still have to finish my seventh year and you're already moving on to the specialized Auror school! Which one accepted you, when do you leave?" asked Ginny.

"I'll come. And yeah, but at least you don't have Professor Snape as headmaster. And I know, I know, I told you he was innocent, but imagine trying to win the house cup with him deducting so many points from Gryffindor," Harry added as he saw Ginny open her mouth to say that Snape hadn't turned out to be that bad after all. "I got accepted into 'N.E.X.T. School,' can't remember what it stands for though... I leave on the third now, so I'll have to wait to extra two days before leaving for school."

Just then, a small owl the size of a tennis ball flew right in through the open window (Harry had opened it a few minutes earlier to let in the cool air) and hit Ginny on the head. After a few moments, it picked itself up from the floor and began to circle the room in a frenzy, hooting wildly. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Harry was suddenly reminded of his old snowy white owl Hedwig who had died the year before.

Ginny noticed the sadness in his eyes but remained quiet and snatched Pigwidgeon out of the air. She untied the letter and small box from his leg before handing the two to Harry. With haste, Harry opened the letter first.

_Hey Harry,_

_How are you doing? Ron has been sulking all day now since I haven't let him write the letter, but I felt it'd be better if I wrote it._

_Well, us two have been doing fine over here, won't tell you exactly what we've been doing though, Ron made me say I wouldn't, so I'm not. We've finally decided our career choices, Ron's decided he wants to do something neither of his brothers are doing (that rules out the Ministry, dragons, Gringotts, and who knows what else, he won't tell me) so I was trying to help him along to whatever he secretly wanted to do. He's decided he doesn't want to go teach either, because that'd be embarrassing having to teach his own children, he says, but he's been putting off his decision forever. Ron finally decided yesterday and sent off his application, he says he's keeping it a secret until you get here. I've decided to become a Healer at St. Mungo's, it seems very interesting. I've removed the memory charm from my parents, they aren't exactly pleased, but it's funny how much they keep making sure that I'll do my best with teeth._

_For St. Mungo's, I'll have to go to it's special training school, but I know us two will keep in touch at the least. St. Mungo's special training is also done in N.E.X.T, so I'll probably see you almost everyday if not completely everyday. Ron still refuses to tell me what he'll be, even as I right this letter, but oh well, I guess. See you at the burrow in a couple of hours._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Hermione_

_P.S. Ron and I have gotten together a special gift for you, took a long time. Hope you like it._

Ginny laughed as she read over the letter. "Typical of Hermione to not tell you what's going on just because Ron made her promise, they are _so _in love now. I wonder how far along they are in their relationship..."

Harry too laughed at that and said, "Same."

"Well then, go on, open the package," Ginny urged.

Harry complied and opened the small package while Ginny once more snatched Pigwidgeon out of the air and this time, kept him held firmly in her hand.

The first thing that fell out of the small package was a flash drive. Harry immediately inserted the flash drive into Dudley's computer and watched a video of the Weasley family at dinnertime pop up into the frame.

"Guess what happened at work today?" asked Percy while helping himself to a large slice of beef with mashed potatoes on top.

"Can't have been anything more important or interesting than thin-bottomed cauldrons, now can it?" asked Fred and George, feigning surprise.

Percy shot a glare at them over the rim of his glasses and said, "No, I finished that report a long time ago. If you must know, I haven't got a report due yet, I'll get my new one tomorrow. But it's something even more interesting."

"Thick-bottomed cauldrons?" chortled George. Harry could tell that it was George because he was missing his left ear.

"No, wrong again. Mad-Eye turned up midway through my conference meeting with the other members of my department, walked up the stairs missing his magical eye," huffed Percy in an air of utmost importance.

"NO WAY!" every single Weasley around the table yelled, right before the clip ended.

"It this true?" Harry asked the moment the clip was done airing.

"Yep, Mad-Eye turned out to be alive, landed on a bush or something and managed to survive. His eye popped out though, and he made a run for it since he knew that the Death Eaters would come looking for him, is what he said. He stopped by later and told us how he'd found this person and they healed him and he hid. He just now managed to find his way back into the wizarding world, apparently," explained Ginny.

Harry opened his mouth to say more, but a slam of the door downstairs told him that Uncle Vernon was home.

"Should we stay for dinner?" asked Ginny uncertainly.

"No," said Harry immediately. "We should go say goodbye soon, do you have your pouch of floo powder?"

"Yeah, let's go then," responded Ginny and the two headed downstairs.

After much talking and a bit of arguing with the Dursleys, Harry and Ginny bid them goodbye and turned to their fireplace. With a slight wave of his wand (under Ginny's strict guidance as Harry did not know the exact spell) the fire in the fireplace was briefly turned from electrical to real and they each took a handful of the green floo powder.

"The burrow!" Ginny said very clearly and stepped into the fire. Harry soon followed her after saying one lasting goodbye to the Dursleys.

"You better not come again next summer without prior arrangements!" roared Uncle Vernon as Harry stepped into the fire and began to spin around and around with his elbows tucked in.

A few seconds later, he had arrived back into the burrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4  
****The Hogwarts Express Once More**

"Oh, Harry dear, welcome back, I haven't seen you in so long, you look so much better than you used to," Mrs. Weasley fussed the moment Harry and Ginny had stepped out of the fire place.

"Mum, don't suffocate him just yet, he's only just arrived," said Ron from the top of the staircase.

"Hey Ron, Hermione here?" asked Ginny, slowly easing away from Harry and Mrs. Weasley.

"No, she just went out to do something, don't know what..." Ron replied with a frown.

"I'll bet you just weren't paying attention," Ginny while rolling her eyes.

"Ginny, don't be rude to your brother, Ron, please try to pay more attention to what Hermione says," George said after appearing in front of Harry with a loud _crack! _in a poorly imitated version of Mrs. Weasley's voice.

"You, you're finally back from that joke shop of yours, you told me you'd drop by last weekend but you never did!" Mrs. Weasley said angrily, turning her attention to the newcomer.

"Come on, let's go before she comes back to us," Ginny whispered to Harry and the two of them quietly tiptoed up the staircase.

When they reached the top of it, where Ron stood waiting for them, he motioned them over and they continued tiptoeing until they reached his room. Quietly, Ron closed the door and all three of them sank onto the bed.

"George hasn't been coming home as often as he tells mum anymore," Ginny explained to Harry in an undertone once she was sure Mrs. Weasley hadn't followed them up the staircase.

"Yeah, we reckon it's because Fred's... Fred's... Fred's, well- well- gone now, so he has to work more," said Ron.

"But mum isn't too pleased about that and she's been furious whenever he comes home late. We think that she finally realized that she likes the jokes Fred and George used to make, even though she thought she hated them. Now, with Fred gone, George has stopped making much of those jokes and spends a lot of his time in the joke shop, he rarely comes home anymore, so mum was bound to realize she missed their jokes now. We also think that George is trying to make up for Fred being gone by spending more time in the joke shop working and helping out," said Ginny.

"Oh and-" Harry began, but was cut off by Ron's sudden exclamation.

"Listen! Those are Hermione's footsteps!" and with that, Ron raced out to go greet her.

"And to think he used to mind other people snogging, with an attitude like that," Ginny smirked. "And how can you tell apart footsteps, anyways?"

"Well, let's go see her, I want to find out what school Ron applied for," Harry said and the two of them walked out of Ron's room.

"Hey Hermione," said Ginny by way of greeting when she spotted Hermione at the edge of the landing.

"Hey Ginny. So Ron, Harry's here now, so what did you sign up for?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I thought that it would be fun to, you know, be an auror too, it seemed kind of cool, so I signed up for N.E.X.T. as well, like you guys, and got accepted," said Ron rather quickly.

"Really? That's great mate! We'll all see each other then!" said Harry happily.

"Yeah, I think it calls for some celebration that 'Won-Won' got accepted into an auror school," Ginny teased before spinning and whirling down the stairs.

Ron's face, in the meantime, had taken on a very red hue along with his ears; this redness would have put even Uncle Vernon at his maddest points to shame.

A while later, the three of them had headed downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, busying herself in the process of making garlic bread and a rather large cake at the same time.

"Hello Ron dear, why didn't you tell me you wanted to be an auror? You got accepted to, that needs to be celebrated. I got you a pair of new robes, by the way, for next year, and your school lists for the three of you," she pointed to Ron, Harry, and Hermione, "Have just arrived, we'll go get them tomorrow after sending Ginny off. I got you two," this time Mrs. Weasley pointed to Harry and Ginny, "Something special, by the way, you can open it later tonight. Mad-Eye and Hagrid are coming over in a while, by the way."

"Need help Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked as he hurried over to lend a hand.

"Yes, thank you so much dear, there's so much to do! I'd be ever so grateful if you could help roast some of that beef over there, and perhaps Hermione, you could help season the mushrooms? Ron, be a dear please, take those cookies out of the oven. George, make yourself useful and help me with the tomato soup," Mrs. Weasley said.

Mrs. Weasley took out her large golden clock that had nine hands, one for each of the Weasley's family members, as she spoke and carefully examined the hands for a moment. Seconds later, the two that read "Bill Weasley" and "Charlie Weasley" switched to "Traveling." A few moments after that, a muffled _crack! _was heard from outside the doorway and Hermione rushed to open the door.

"Hey mum, we came to help out, what should we do?" asked Bill and Charlie.

"Excellent, Bill, please go set the table, Charlie, help me with the corn over here."

As everyone bustled around to do what they needed, Harry headed out of the door and cooked the beef as best he could. Later, when everyone had arrived, they enjoyed a lovely meal with quite a bit of talking. Percy and Mr. Weasley had come home for the day and were helping themselves to some of the beef while talking to Hermione about being a Healer, Mad-Eye was talking very sternly to Ron about the dangers of being an auror, and Mrs. Weasley was once more insisting that Bill's hair was much too long and rather ridiculous looking.

The night passed quickly, as things often did when you were having a nice time, and before he knew it, it was nine o'clock and Mrs. Weasley was ushering him and Ginny up the stairs to pack. More precisely, Mrs. Weasley was ushering Ginny upstairs to pack while Harry was being ushered upstairs to help Mrs. Weasley help Ginny pack.

An hour past, and at ten o'clock, everything was just about neatly and tidily folded up into Ginny's trunk the way it should have been. Mrs. Weasley was reading over Ginny's school supplies for that year to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything.

"And two pairs of black robes?" Mrs. Weasley pronounced at last.

"Yep, all packed," said Ginny.

"Alright then," Mrs. Weasley said. "Since Harry's owl died last year, I got you both an owl. They're a bit small and rather cheap, I'm afraid, but you won't be attending the same schools."

And with that, she presented them each a tiny little owl. Harry's was a tiny little snowy white owl similar to Hedwig (but smaller) and slightly bigger than Pigwidgeon but fortunately, much more well behaved and less hyper, and Ginny's was a golden-yellow one with white specks exactly the same size as Pidwidgeon.

"Thanks mum!" said Ginny excitedly.

"Yeah, thanks so much Mrs. Weasley, I owe you one," said Harry smiling.

"Oh Harry dear, you don't owe me a thing, think of it as a present for you two. They're for communicating, I waur good relationship, after all," Mrs. Weasley said, beaming. Then she glanced at the clock and said, "But dear me, look at the time! Off to bed, you two, Harry, we'll go get your new stuff tomorrow after sending Ginny off. You can pack the next day before leaving on the third."

"Well, goodnight then, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, already turning to head out the door.

"Goodnight mum," said Ginny as well.

"Goodnight you two, and Harry, you'll be sharing a room with Ginny, she ever so kindly offered," said Mrs. Weasley and with a wave of her hand, sent the pair of them out of the room.

"Come on, my room's this way, we've already set it up for two. Ron thought you should stay with him, but I managed to persuade them to let you stay with me," said Ginny.

The two entered Ginny's bedroom and Harry pulled on his pajamas in the bathroom.

"Night," he said.

"Night," yawned Ginny before turning off the light. They each pulled their blankets tight around their bodies and fell soundly asleep.

* * *

"Time to get up!" Mrs. Weasley yelled the next morning. "Ginny dear, hurry up, you'll be late, Ron, get up- well, oh fine, if you must, continue sleeping, Harry and I'll see Ginny off ourselves then."

A couple minutes later Harry had pulled on his sweater and did his best to comb his hair as Ginny fed her new owl an owl treat.

"Pancakes, dear," said Mrs. Weasley as both of them hurried into the kitchen. Each grabbed and plate and Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand. A stack of pancakes soared onto both of their plates.

"Eat quickly, we'll have to go soon. Aurthor bought a new car this summer, we'll be able to ride it there," said Mrs. Weasley

They wolfed down their breakfast and Harry grabbed Ginny's trunk out the door while she grabbed her new owl which she had named 'Sunny' at around seven in the morning. Harry had decided to call his Hedwig the Second. Mr. Weasley was outside by the new car waiting for them. Mrs. Weasley hopped into the passenger side in the front while Harry heaved Ginny's trunk into the back and clambered into the back seats after Ginny. The car was much roomier than it had looked from the outside, much like the Weasley's old car, and the four of them fit in quite comfortably (five if you counted Sunshine), despite the fact the car was only supposed to be able to seat four people and no extra luggage.

"Have a nice day so far?" Mr. Weasley called from the front seat, tilting his hand around slightly to look at both Harry and Ginny.

"Aurthor, keep your eyes on the road," snapped Mrs. Weasley.

There was no more conversation after that until they reached King's Cross Station.

"Come on, this way you two, don't get lost now and follow me," Mrs. Weasley said while hurrying towards the barrier between the muggle world and platform nine-and-three-quarters.

Harry handed Ginny her trunk and she shut her eyes as she took off running towards the brick wall. Seconds later, she had vanished along with all of her luggage.

"Go on Harry, follow her, you're not ever going to go last again after what happened in your second year," said Mr. Weasley sternly.

Complying, Harry swallowed, and with his eyes opened wide, set off at a walking pace towards the barrier. At the last second, a group of muggle tourists passed by him and he swallowed hard once more before squeezing his eye shut and running through the wall.

He appeared on the other side of the barrier to find the Hogwarts Express and its scarlet engine sitting there as always, although truth be told, he did not know why he expected any differently. Perhaps, he reasoned, it was because Dumbledore was no longer headmaster, and he certainly hadn't been there to take the Hogwarts Express back when _Snape _was headmaster and Voldemort was at large.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley appeared behind him as they too entered the barrier. Harry looked around and spotted Ginny a little to his right, waving to them.

The Hogwarts express and its scarlet engine blew some steam and gave off a whistle, signaling it was about time for departure.

Ginny immediately hopped aboard, and leaning out from the window, she yelled, "Bye mum! Bye dad! Bye Harry!"

The three of them all waved to her as the Hogwarts Express began to move, slowly at first, and soon picking up pace.

"Bye!" Harry yelled for what would be the last time in a while and Ginny waved and waved until the Hogwarts Express was out of view and she could no longer be seen.

Unknowingly, Harry had raised his hand and been waving. He felt it drop to his side as the Hogwarts Express disappeared from view.

"Well, come on, no time to be dilly dallying, we still have to get your school supplies along with Ron's and Hermione's," said Mrs. Weasley the moment the last bit of steam from the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express was gone.

"Yeah," agreed Harry, and with one last look at the spot where the Hogwarts Express was standing, followed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back out of the barrier and to the car to go buy his, Ron's, and Hermione's school supplies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5  
N.E.X.T.**

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley brought Harry back to the burrow before waking Ron (Ron was very grouchy at being awoken twice in one day) and Hermione up and continuing on to Diagon Ally where they would, as usual, get their school supplies.

The trip was short as Mr. Weasley walked with Hermione and Ron while Harry and Mrs. Weasley headed off in the other direction. For the most part, they purchased three of everything on their list; one for Hermione, one for Ron, and one for Harry. Since Hermione's list was _slightly _different because she was going to be a Healer, some things were purchased separately. Harry bought some large and colorful quills for the three of them as well as a couple of different flavored owl treats for Hedwig the Second (Ron had begun calling her H.S. the moment he got wind of her name. George later pointed out that it could also stand for 'Hermione Stranger,' and so Ron changed it to H.T.S.)

After lunch, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and George played Quiditch with Hermione and Harry on one side and Ron and George on the other. They played with apples from the apple orchid again and played until the the sky became dark and night fell. Mrs. Weasley called them inside for a delicious dinner consisting of a rather large chicken, some soup, some sour-dough bread, and a few ears of corn. Desert was chocolate cake which Hermione did not eat much of, for she insisted she was just too full (it turned out that, as Hermione later informed Harry and Ron, that it looked to sugary and her parents would have never allowed her to eat it for the sake of her teeth.)

The next day Harry was allowed to sleep in. Ron brought up some eggs and bacon for him later that morning and they enjoyed a festive breakfast together. Afterwards Harry brushed his teeth and pulled on some clothes besides his pajamas before heading downstairs to find where he had put his school supplies list. Mrs. Weasley then hurried him back up the stairs to pack.

Harry's packing took much longer than Ginny's, and put together with Ron's and Hermione's, packing took most of the day. It was an uneventful sort of thing, so the most interesting thing that happened was that Harry had tried to fold some of his socks with magic and ended up soaking them with water. One thing different about their packing was also that they no longer packed into trunks; instead, Mrs. Weasley put a special charm on the backpacks (like the supply list said) so they could fit everything in. They went to bed in a sort of subdued manner, having not had much of a cheery day, and Harry spent the evening in a bed in Ginny's room feeling rather lonely from her absence.

He woke bright and early the next morning for it was time to go to school. Mrs. Weasley gave them each a bowl of cereal for breakfast as she made some ham and turkey sandwiches and put them in their bags. When everything was ready, Mrs. Weasley ushered them out the door.

"Where are we going mum? How do we get to N.E.X.T. anyways?" Ron asked as they hurried down the doorsteps.

"Oh, N.E.X.T., I think it was something along the lines of National Extra X Training'. X came from that math they do in the muggle world, you know, what they call, 'Variables,' whatever those silly things are. At any rate, they have a subway you ride on, we'll go there," Mrs. Weasley said as they bustled down into the car where Mr. Weasley was yet again waiting for them.

"On you go," said Mrs. Weasley and hoisted them all up and into the car.

A long time later, they had at last arrived at the subway.

"Go into the entrance right there, it has muggle repelling charms so don't worry about any muggles coming," said Mrs. Weasley, and after waving goodbye, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all headed right in.

At the entrance, the three of them handed in the tickets to the guard that they had received along with their supply list. Then they boarded the pearly white and shiny subway that was awaiting them. It was very large with mint green and azure blue stripes painted on its side along with the words, "NEXT SUBWAY" painted above.

Hermione spotted Neville waving to them, so they entered that compartment. The inside of the subway had turned out to be much the same as the Hogwarts Express had been.

"What are you going to study?" asked Hermione as they settled into the seats.

"I want to be a herbology teacher, and gram says here is the best place to learn. She doesn't really seem to be too mad about it, though, so I guess that's a good thing," said Neville.

Harry had almost forgotten the whole place was not the Hogwarts Express, and a little over an hour later, when a women pushing a trolley stopped by, it did nothing to help change his impression. As he normally would have done, Harry pulled out his money bag and purchased many cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, Bertie Bot's Every Flavored Beans, pumpkin pastries, licorice wands, and other candies.

"You do this every year, don't you ever think about how unhealthy it is?" asked Hermione, eyeing Harry's sweets disapprovingly once he had returned.

"Come on, relax Hermione; even you said so yourself. He only does it once a year, let him think of it as a treat," said Neville, who must have finally learned to stand up to others during his seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Oh alright," said Hermione grudgingly. Harry tore open a chocolate frog wrapper and began to eat it.

After that, the four of them played many a game of exploding snap and wizard chess. It was quite fun.

N.E.X.T. came into view almost too soon, and Harry was reluctant to allow the fun they had been having come to an end. He peered out the window after telling himself sternly something would have put it to an end anyways and the thoughts were chased out of his head almost at once. N.E.X.T. was large an magnificent, with many large towers that were round. A giant lake, enormous green house, and large flower bed could be seen dotting the entire area. Harry was sure there was more to it, but after much time craning his neck, he eventually gave up and settled back down into his seat.

A while after that, the subway came to a stop. Students with their backpacks and pets (owls, cats, toads, and a new addition this year, lizards) all clambered out of their subway box cars as the double doors automatically slid open.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all spared one last glance at each other before looking up at the large castle that loomed before them. As they began to slowly walk forward, Harry wondered what surprises and challenges would await them behind the large, wooden door that led to the castle.

* * *

**Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if it seemed a bit rushed in places, the original was much better, but somehow it didn't save properly and it was entirely deleted. If you have anything to comment on (criticism is welcome) then feel free to post it below.I try to post at least two chapters a week, but don't expect much on the holidays (like Christmas or Thanksgiving,) but otherwise I do try to keep to that amount.**** Again, thanks for reading this chapter, and I truly hope you enjoyed it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6  
The Return of Mad-Eye Moody**

After Harry's first week at school, he had difficulty even convincing himself that N.E.X.T. was not just a more advanced Hogwarts with less of Hermione in his class, no houses, and new people.

"Hey! Harry, look at that on our schedule! We have Defense Against the Dark Arts again!" shouted Ron jubilantly on a bright and sunny Tuesday.

"Well duh, it only reasonable, we're going to be aurors Ron," said Harry.

"Oh, right, I forgot. It's just that all we've had so far is Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions," said Ron slightly less cheerfully.

Indeed this was true. One more difference between N.E.X.T. was that their classes were much longer, and each class took about two hours of their day. Harry still had difficulty convincing himself though, that this was not Hogwarts.

"Well, come on, who knows what our new teacher'll be like? I reckon we should at least arrive there on time, mate, and make a good impression," Harry told him.

"You sound like Hermione when you do that," said Ron before the two of them set off at a rather speedy pace.

Three stair cases, four corridors, and eight doors later, Harry and Ron had finally arrived at classroom 115 out of breath on the third floor, where their Defense Against the Dark Arts class would be held. They were exactly a minute ahead of schedule.

"Come on in you two, didn't expect anyone'd be early," growled a very, very, very familiar voice. Harry and Ron both spun around to come face to face with Mad-Eye Moody.

"Professor Moody!?" said a shocked voice from behind them, and Harry and Ron turned once more to face Hermione.

"Hey Hermione! I haven't seen you since we got off the subway!" exclaimed Ron.

"What are you teaching here for?" asked Hermione, ignoring Ron.

"I felt like coming out of retirement for a few years at the least, and Professor Dumbledore wanted it," growled Moody. "Nice to see you've taken an impostor's advice and became an auror, Potter."

Harry felt himself turn a crimson red.

"Not to worry at any rate, the lesson's about to start, so we can catch up and chitchat later. For now, get in the classroom," said Moody and limped off, his magical eye whirling around in its socket.

"Let's go in then," said Hermione and the three of them entered.

Harry decided that Moody's classroom looked much like it had been when the impostor had taught at Hogwarts in his fourth year. The three of them settled in the front of the classroom, as they had done at that time, and settled back for what would most certainly be an interesting lesson; every single lesson they had ever been taught by the impostor Moody had been fascinating and important, so they saw no reason to as why the real deal would be no better. A few moments later, many more students began to file into the classroom and the lesson began.

* * *

It certainly had been an interesting lesson, thought Harry as two hours later, he emerged exhausted from Moody's classroom. All of them had been forced to endlessly preform jinxes and counter-curses in rapid succession and only Hermione had managed to remain just as energized and happy as she had been when she originally entered the classroom. Everyone else was in damp moods or else, like Harry, completely drained of energy.

"Harry, where are you going?" asked Hermione as Harry began to walk in the opposite direction as them.

"To the owlery, it's a good thing they have one here, I'm going to send a letter to Ginny," he replied.

"'Kay mate, just don't take too long. We only have forty-five minutes to eat, and if you take too long you won't get to eat the main food," said Ron before departing with Hermione towards the Great Hall, as it was still called, where they would go eat lunch.

Harry, in the meantime, wandered along on his own up many more staircases, through many deserted corridors and empty classrooms, until he reached the owlery. He called for Hedwig the Second and she soon came swooping down.

"When I'm done writing this letter, will you take it to Ginny Weasley in Hogwarts?" asked Harry.

With a pang as he watched Hedwig the Second tilt her head and nod, he noticed her blue eyes once more and remembered how the first Hedwig had had amber eyes. A few moments passed before he turned away from Hedwig the Second, sat down by the window ledge, and began to write a lengthy letter to Ginny.

_ Dear Ginny,_

_ How's your first week been going? You won't believe what happened today, but I reckon it won't be much news for you in a sense. Mad-Eye Moody is our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher- says that he felt like coming out of retirement for a few years and Dumbledore (probably the portrait, since he's, you know, not... exactly... here at the moment) wanted him to do it. I'll bet that once he finds me, Neville'll try to corner me and ask if we'll ever continue the DA. I mean, it was kind of fun, and I saw him in the back of the classroom today after class was dismissed holding up his golden DA galleon. I guess he still hasn't accidentally spent it yet._

_At any rate, I can't spend too much time here writing the letter because Ron says if this is what I'm going to spend my spare time doing, he isn't going to save me any of the chicken (that's why I didn't write to you yesterday, because I was already late for lunch and I couldn't really afford to skip it since I already skipped breakfast finishing my potions essay) and Hedwig the Second is getting kind of impatient for me to finish. Hope you've had an excellent week so far, maybe we'll see each other in Hogsmead next weekend._

_Love,_

_Harry_

Satisfied, he rolled up the parchment, sealed it, and stuffed it carefully into an envelope. He wrote Ginny's name and addressed it to the Great Hall of Hogwarts on the front before tying it to Hedwig the Second's leg. He watched her fly into the distance until she became a speck and then was no more on the horizon while wishing that it were he, Harry, instead who was flying off to see Ginny. He told himself sternly not to think too much on that wish and turned away from the window to head down to the Great Hall.

By the time Harry reached the Great Hall, he had less than half an hour to eat. Still, he took his time loading mashed potatoes, fried beef, roasted chicken, corn, broccoli, carrots, cheese, and gravy onto his plate before digging in. Later, when the food had vanished to be replaced by blocks of ice cream, pudding, jello, treacle tart, and cakes, Harry was telling himself over and over again that he had not somehow magically transported back to Hogwarts with little progress. After a while he gave up and ate some ice cream before the bell rang and he hurried to Charms.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7  
A Relatively Normal Day**

Soon, much to the difference of his original opinion, Harry no longer was able to think of N.E.X.T. as Hogwarts, no matter how hard he tried. It was just too difficult, what with things slowly adding up on top of each other; the two hour long lessons, the super heavy homework load, the extra time in the library, and so much more.

Harry was quite positive that there was no way possible that the homework load could increase anymore. Ron insisted he was dead sure that the teachers were trying to suffocate them with the library, books, practicing, and homework. Hermione thought she was in paradise, for she thought that it was a bigger chance to prove she was a good student (at least, that was what Harry gathered from the short few minutes he and Ron could snatch away and talk to her.)

From the huge amount of homework to lessons to extra studying (there was no Quiditch and Harry felt that his schedule was a bit empty without it, so he was still looking for some sort of club or activity to join) a month went by quite quickly. It almost seemed to fly by, and before he knew it, Harry had already entered October. Everything had been relatively normal so far in the year and Harry felt no reason that the particular month in question would be any different.

One fresh and crispy Thursday morning seemed no different, except being a little warmer than the past few days. Harry dressed and headed down to breakfast with Ron.

"Cumon, etum-ov e afls 'arry, eir um 'ngeat," mumbled Ron with his mouth completely full.

"Er, eh, can you repeat that? Without your mouth full, that is," Harry added hastily as Ron opened his mouth again to repeat what he said.

Ron quickly gulped down his enormous mouthful and said, "You should eat some of the waffles, Harry, their great."

"Ron, hurry up and eat or else you won't have time to finish your breakfast or your delicious waffles before you have to head off to lessons," said Hermione, finally raising her head from the _Daily Prophet, _in which she had been burying her head in throughout the past few minutes.

"Blimey Hermione, you should relax sometime and learn not to nag," said Ron in a rather not pleased voice.

Breakfast passed quickly and Hermione went her own separate way as they headed off to lessons. Magical Creatures (the old Care of Magical Creatures back in Hogwarts) was their first lesson, as their teacher said Aurors should be able to tell apart different animals and learn their uses. Harry's Magical Creature lessons made him miss Hogwarts even more, especially Hagrid, the gamekeeper (he still exchanged letters with both Hagrid and Ginny) although he had to admit he didn't really miss Hagrid's love of dangerous creatures (especially ones that could kill with fangs and stings or other things.) Professor Taky taught them Magical Creatures and despite his old age, he was still very enthusiastic in teaching. Harry and Ron arrived not a minute too soon.

"Potter, Weasley, choose a seat please and make it quick, we shall be studying the dangers of a serpent's venom today, I found one washed up on the beach as I took a hike yesterday," said Professor Taky when he spotted them.

Harry and Ron hurried into a empty spot. Magical Creatures passed with nothing strange besides the fact that Pansy Parkingson, who was planning to be a potions teacher (probably to bully the kids she taught) had gotten poisoned from not being careful when touching the sac where poison resided.

Transfiguration came after that and then Disguises (as its name said, they learned disguises there.) Harry, feeling ravenous, wolfed down his lunch. It was not until late that afternoon, during the last lesson of the day (potions,) that anything eventful even happened at all, in fact.

"Oi, think we'll see Hermione today?" asked Ron the moment the Potions classroom came into sight (they no longer had Potions in the dungeons, as they had in Hogwarts.)

"Of course we will, today's Thursday. On Monday's we have Potions but Hermione doesn't have hers until Tuesday, and then our second Potions lesson of the week would be on Thursdays, and Hermione has Potions on Thursdays too. So since today is Thursday, Hermione either will or should be there," replied Harry.

"Oh..." said Ron as they continued to near the door.

"Hey Ron, hey Harry!" said Hermione cheerily as she spotted them.

"Don't talk so loudly in the corridors and please enter the classroom quietly and in an orderly fashion," said Professor Emeraldz (their new Potions master) in his best high and mighty voice that commanded little authority. The class broke out laughing and Professor Emeraldz joined in, for he liked to joke around a lot (Ron said he reminded him of Fred) and never took anything offensively.

Still, the class quieted down and entered the classroom in a single-file line.

"Today we will be learning an antidote to common poisons, such as poisons from the most spiders," announced Professor Emeraldz in an even faker full-of-authority voice.

They began by opening their books to page forty-five and reading about antidotes. It was about half an hour before they actually began to make an antidote. Halfway through the lesson, the most interesting part of anyone's day in the entire classroom happened.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8  
The First Sign of Disease**

Cassie Lovegood, studying to be an auror as well, (Ron had asked her the day before and she had eventually admitted that she was related to Luna Lovegood, she was her cousin apparently) was looking perfectly normal indeed as she struggled to crush her beetle eyes into fine powder, as the book said, and accidentally elbowed Harry (she was working next to him.) Hermione was already stirring her potion vigorously while Ron was struggling to understand why his antidote was turning a deep, menacing brown. Harry was attempting to un-clump his porcupine quills without poking himself. As Cassie finished crushing her beetle eyes into powder, she dumped it into her cauldron and stirred the contents around twelve times counter-clockwise —or at least, that was what she was supposed to do. Instead, Harry watched cautiously, in case she accidentally elbowed him again, as Cassie wobbly dumped half-crushed beetle eyes onto the table top (only a tiny bit managed to make it into the intended goal, the cauldron.)

"Er— eh— Cassie?" asked Harry uncertainly.

"Yeah?" replied Cassie weakly, as if she had no energy to answer properly.

"You're... um... supposed to dump most of your _finely powdered _beetle eyes into the _cauldron_," said Harry, emphasizing the parts she needed to correct.

Confused, Cassie looked from the mess she had made to the book and said, "But it is all in the cauldron."

"Oh, sorry, I saw wrong, sorry Cassie," said Harry, hiding _his _confusion. He turned back to his cauldron and pretended to notice no more as Cassie spilled her porcupine quills all over the floor and did somehow did not realize. Hermione looked up from her vigorous stirring and spared a glance at Cassie's mess of a work area before raising her eyebrows and returning to her stirring. Ron did likewise, except when he was done raising his eyebrows, he went back to checking the book instead of stirring.

Fifteen minutes later, it was plainly obvious that something was wrong with Cassie. Her entire face had taken on a slightly reddish look and she seemed rather feverish. Despite the fact her work area was covered in spilled ingredients and giant messes, she seemed not to realize, although usually she liked to have an immaculate work spot. Only a small portion of the class had noticed however, and that was only because they had stepped on some ingredient Cassie had dropped. Professor Emeraldz, who was busy correcting their essays, did not see anything out of the ordinary at all, for he did not look towards where Cassie was stationed.

A few minutes later, Harry was about ready to march up to the front desk and report Cassie's strange behavior to Professor Emeraldz, no longer caring about drawing attention to himself, because Cassie's eyesight and ability to target items seemed to have dropped severely over the past few minutes. She kept dumping her ingredients onto Harry instead of into her cauldron by accident and lit her own robes on fire.

According to their books, once they were done a certain part, they were to clean up and let it brew until their next lesson. Afterwards their job would be to read up on some more antidotes, Professor Emeraldz had told them cheerfully. Cassie, having probably decided her potion was ready to sit and brew until next lesson, began to clean her stuff up. She still took no notice to the quills and potion ingredients scattered over the table top, the floor, her own robes, or Harry's robes. Harry's eyes watered as Cassie picked up her bag to put her stuff away in and, what must have seemed carefully to her, placed her stuff inside. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as most of Cassie's scattered belongings made it into the bag, but he soon clamped his mouth shut and regretted even thinking any amount of relief; Cassie's book had slipped out and thudded on Harry's foot. Eyes watering, he gingerly bent down, picked the book off the floor, and quietly slipped it into Cassie's bag when she wasn't looking.

Cassie saw nothing and fetched a book from within the contents of her bag. She pulled over a chair and crashed into several table tops before stopping next to Harry, climbing on to the chair, and opening the book to chapter 2. Harry watched her in silence for a few moments as he finished his potion, tidied up his work area, and attempted to clear up some of Cassie's mess. He debated on whether or not he should go up to Professor Emeraldz and report Cassie's strange behavior, but decided against it at last, dragged a stool over, and also popped open his book to chapter 2. Harry sat there reading in silence for a while until...

With a sudden sickly splashing noise that sounded like someone vomiting, Harry looked up just in time to see Cassie turning greener and opening her mouth to let out another long stream of sick. Alarmed, everyone in the class (even Professor Emeraldz) looked up from what they were doing to watch Cassie finish retching. Then her face changed from its green-ish tone into a pale color. Harry thought Cassie's new complexion looked remarkably similar to that of a ghost, or perhaps a muggle who had seen a ghost... His thoughts were soon interrupted as a loud gasp came from the class and he came back to reality in time to see Cassie sway on her stool and her book fall out of her hands into the puddle of regurgitated food. A heartbeat later, Cassie swayed even more and her eyes finally fell close. In another second, the time it took for Harry to blink, she had fainted and fallen off her stool.

The stunned silence that had held the class finally broke and all chaos broke out as most kids struggled to get away from Cassie. Professor Emeraldz could be seen hurrying about, trying to silence everyone and restore order to his class, but the kids were not helping him in the least. Eventually, the class calmed down and Professor Emeraldz had cleaned up the mess with his wand. Cassie lay unconscious on the cold, checkerboard tiles of their classroom. She was breathing quite heavily and her face was very flushed.

"Potter, please take Ms. Lovegood to the hospital wing, and Granger and Weasley, you two, please accompany him in case anything happens," ordered Professor Emeraldz quite seriously once order was restored. "Leave your bags, since you are all done I will have one of your classmates clean up for you if you do not return in time."

Harry nodded and with a stupendous effort, he lifted Cassie up while Hermione and Ron trailed behind him as he left the classroom.

"Blimey mate, the sound she made when she lost her lunch! You'd have thought she bought one of George's puking pastels, the way it sounded so rehearsed like the movies do," said Ron once they had left, happy to skip a few minutes of lessons.

"Ronald Weasley, don't be rude, the poor girl is sick, she did not buy one of Fred and George's merchandise to get out of class," Hermione scolded Ron sternly.

"Yeah, I reckon her lunch-losing was the real deal," Harry chimed in hesitantly.

They arrived at the hospital wing quite quickly. Madam Yeal was N.E.X.T.'s form of Madam Pomfrey, Harry had come to realize, so if anyone was hurt, injured, or sick, they went to her.

"Goodness, what happened?" asked Madam Yeal when she spotted Cassie's limp form in Harry's arm.

The three of them recounted what had happened in class, and Madam Yeal nodded in understanding.

"I've never quite heard of those symptoms, but thank you for bringing her here. You three may go back to class now and I will attend to her, you may visit her tomorrow afternoon, when classes are over," said Madam Yeal in a tone that made the three of them know that they were to go. "However, Ms. Granger, will you help me tend to her for a few moments?"

Hermione nodded and Harry and Ron left.

The pair hurried back to class only to find there were two minutes remaining and their bags were all neatly packed. Professor Emeraldz let them linger around and chat until they were dismissed.

"Come on, let's go to the boy's dormitory and wait for Hermione," said Ron.

"That's right, we're not allowed into the girl's dormitories," said Harry, remembering the day they had tried unsuccessfully to do so.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "Wait, I've got a better idea, the day's really nice today. So let's go outside."

"Sure, great idea mate," agreed Harry.

They finished a four-page long essay before Hermione finally came back exactly an hour later.

"What were you doing there?" asked Ron.

"Oh, I was just helping Madam Yeal with Cassie. I'm planning to do some research on Cassie's symptoms as soon as I can," replied Hermione briskly.

"With this homework load?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Hermione wants to do it, I think, she and Cassie have been real friendly lately," said Harry.

"Yeah, we're sort of friends now, I guess," agreed Hermione.

"Well then, if you want to do that researching of yours," said Harry, "Then you'll need to get a start on your homework. Standing around idly will do you no good."

Hermione laughed and sat down to do homework with them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9  
The Trip to Hogsmead**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not go to visit Cassie until nearly a month later on a very dreary and cloudy Saturday, for they had no time. Hermione had pestered Harry and Ron to bring Cassie her homework, so it was with great regret that they brought down a large tower of papers to her bedside stand.

"Think she'll wake up today, mate?" asked Ron as they saw Cassie was still lying motionless in bed (Madam Yeal had promised she would tell them if Cassie woke up, but as she never contacted them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were pretty sure that Cassie hadn't in the past week.)

"Wel-" Harry began, but was startled into silence by Cassie's eyes suddenly snapping open.

"Hey, you're up Cassie, that's great!" exclaimed Ron, but Harry and Hermione shushed him.

"Look at her eyes, something is wrong, go get Madam Yeal," whispered Hermione urgently to Harry.

Harry looked and noticed that flames seemed to be burning in Cassie's eyes, or at least reflecting in them. He nodded and quietly slipped into Madam Yeal's small office. When Madam Yeal was found, he quickly explained what had happened and they bustled out to Cassie's bed. By the time they had arrived, Cassie had already begun to make odd noises in the back of her throat. The fire in her eyes burned ever brighter and the tips of her hair, normally a honey brown, had turned whitish grey.

"Could you three please leave and visit her some other time? I believe now is not the best time to be around her," said Madam Yeal kindly.

"We should go and let Madam Yeal quietly help Cassie recover," commanded Hermione in a whisper and the three of them left.

The next day, a few of Cassie's classmates went to see her. Harry, Hermione, and Ron stayed behind to finish a couple essays, agreeing they would visit Cassie Monday, after lessons.

Sunday came and went, spent entirely on homework, and Monday dragged on slowly (things often did when you were terribly eager to do something, and Harry did want to check on Cassie's condition quite a bit) until at last, the bell rang. Harry hurriedly packed up his stuff, and along with Ron, he raced down the corridor to find Hermione.

It wasn't long before they spotted her and they changed course to the hospital wing. When they arrived, a curtain was drawn around Cassie's bed.

"You can't visit her currently, her illness appears to be contagious," said Madam Yeal sadly from behind them. "One of her classmates came to visit yesterday and stayed for a while. It wasn't long before they puked and fell ill as well."

"Oh, it's alright, we'll come back in a couple weeks then and see what happens," said Hermione hastily before Ron could respond grouchily.

"Thanks for understanding," said Madam Yeal with a smile, and they left.

* * *

Two weeks later, Hermione, Ron, and Harry did not have as much homework as usual. They decided two weeks would be a time long enough for Cassie to heal, so on Saturday, they once more headed to visit Cassie. The moment they entered though, they spotted Madam Yeal.

"I'm so sorry, I moved her to St. Mungo's because she was just so ill and stranger and stranger things kept happening. Last night, I woke up to her bucking in her bed and she had a horrible fever," Madam Yeal informed them miserably.

"It's fine," replied Harry.

"Well, I'll tell you immediately when she gets back!" said Madam Yeal considerably brighter.

"Sure," the three of them replied before heading out.

"Well then, I saw on the notice board we were having a trip to Hogsmead tomorrow," said Hermione. "I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure if we could go, you know, maybe we should stay here with Cassie. But if she isn't here, why not the three of us go all together? We don't need permission anymore because we are adults now, in the wizarding world, no matter how you look at it."

"We still have trips to Hogsmead!?" exclaimed Ron excitedly.

"Yeah, I just noticed the other day. They say we only go to Hogsmead twice a year; once a few months into the school year, and once a month before school ends. We get to go to 'Spiders-Cider' during Halloween once we're here for two years. And then the rest of the time we go to a place called Pigsmeadow, it's designed after Hogsmead so you'll see they are very similar," Hermione explained.

"Let's go tomorrow and maybe buy Cassie a get-well gift," suggested Harry.

The three of them agreed to that plan and headed to the lake to study.

Sunday came and they were transported via the school's subway to Hogsmead, which was busy indeed. Ron, Harry, and Hermione parted their separate ways and agreed to meet up in two hours at the Three Broomsticks.

Harry wondered past many shops and bought some new quills and ink bottles. He especially adored the large, sleek eagle feather quill he found that was sort of a bronze-ish color and quickly purchased it. As he passed some more stores, he bought a small box of chocolate frogs for Cassie (he had noticed how much she liked to eat them) and carefully carried it around with him the rest of the trip. When he passed by a bookstore, he peered in and saw Hermione looking around thoughtfully near the back. Stifling a laugh, Harry continued on and bought Hedwig the Second some owl treats. He and Ginny had continued to exchange letters back and forth.

At long last, two hours were up and Harry rejoined Hermione and Ron back at the Three Broomsticks. They ordered three cans of butterbeer and sat drinking cheerfully. They discussed all that had happened during their two hours and it turned out Hermione had spent her whole entire time examining books in different stores.

Harry then told his tale of spotting Hermione and of his shopping before proudly presenting his eagle quill feather and putting it safely back into its bag.

Ron went next, and he turned out to have had by far the most interesting time. He had spotted Malfoy shopping around and they had talked for a while (they were now on rather good terms.)

It started snowing after that, but Hermione and Ron still wanted to look around some more, so they dashed into stores. When everyone had shopped enough, Harry bought them each a large lollipop and they headed back to N.E.X.T.

Dinner was delightfully cheerful and merry as everyone exchanged stories of what they had done that day, for usually this did not happen very often. People laughed at each other's days or beamed with pleasure at presents that they had been bought.

Bedtime seemed to approach much to soon, and before Harry knew it, he was reluctantly waving goodbye to Hermione to go off to sleep.

In bed and reflecting upon the day, Harry got up again and wrote another letter to Ginny before making a simple card for Cassie. He sent Cassie's off with a school owl and Ginny's with Hedwig the Second. Feeling able to sleep at last, Harry headed back to his bed and climbed in.

Before he knew it, Harry was fast asleep.


End file.
